Protecting bee hives from tropical cyclones?

[Termite.sv]

Hi all!
I am located in Far North Queensland, so we can get a few cyclones every now and again! I was just wondering what other people do to protect their hives when a cyclone hits? I was thinking maybe to drive a few star pickets deep into the ground against all sides of the hive. Then wrap around the hive / pickets with truck straps. Do you think this would work? Another thing I was thinking was to strap them against palm trees, palm trees are indestructible! They don't snap or become up-rooted. The problem I think is is that they bend and flex a lot, this would probably pull the hive apart?. I suppose it is possible to seal the hives and put them in the shed, but dad will probably have something to say about that!
How have you protected your hives from cyclones?
Thanks for any input!
Sam.

[dunderi]

Are you using the steel hive straps to hold your boxes together in a stack? 
If so,  a couple star pickets and some wire through that to hold them should do - don't go parking them underneath any large gum trees as a dropped limb can be fairly devastating if it's a big one. 

I wouldn't strap it to a palm tree :)

make sure the top covers seal well,  and just check on them after storms. 

[BeeMaster2]

A set of good anchors, small ones will do and a strap will really help. Having wind breaks will also help. Mine are between my house and barn most of the year. At a minimum prior to storms, I will add a strap around the hives so that even if it falls over it stays together. At my farm during the spring, I used to have them strapped to a pair of 12' railroad tracks that I used for a stand. I now just strap them down on my bee trailer.
Jim

[Termite.sv]

Yeah I am using steel hive straps. I don't really have any wind breaks, but I'll definitely anchor / picket them.

Thanks guys!

[divemaster1963]

Get some ground screws and then stap across all the tops to the other screw  if you can determine which way the air will becoming from. Setup some angled sheeting to  deflect the wind up and over the hives. This should help protect them.

John

[jayj200]

a 20x20 patio stone fills the need here in fl
and maybe a strap thats enough

[KeyLargoBees]

Take this with a grain of salt as I am a first year keeper...but have lived in the tropics for 25 years and prepped for and survived many storms for boats cars and houses with minimal damage.

If you get a direct hit from a really big storm thats going to destroy structures nothing you can do will matter. But for glancing blows and winds of <160 kph (100 mph) depending on how your hive stands are set up ....strapping down the hive stands with ground anchors...and then strapping the hives to the stand will work. Patio stones or bricks on covers probably wont be enough. I have seen wind do amazing things and getting underneath an edge and flipping a cover even with a weight on it seems likely to me.

I would reduce the entrances to their smallest sizes and if you have screened bottom boards close them off somehow.

So much of the prep will involve how your stands are set up and how the bee yard is set up...factor in expected duration, rainfall totals and wind direction and which side of the eye you are expecting and the variable start to get daunting.